New Department of Government Efficiency Will Be Led by Musk

Key Points:

• President-elect Trump plans to establish the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
• DOGE aims to streamline government operations by identifying wasteful expenditures and excessive regulations.

President-elect Donald Trump has announced the formation of a new department, the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which he said will help cut federal waste and make government leaner.

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Elon Musk to Lead Department of Government Efficiency

Headed by Elon Musk along with entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, the agency is tasked with conducting a full audit of federal spending for the purpose of proposing wide-ranging reforms throughout all government departments.

In a statement Tuesday, Trump said the Department of Government Efficiency would focus on reviewing government spending and identifying opportunities to streamline agency operations, possibly leading to a scaling back of federal bureaucracy.

The agency’s acronym, DOGE, was humorously named after the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, which Musk famously backed. Musk, a loud advocate for public administration efficiency, reportedly pushed for a department that would be specifically tasked with rooting out government waste.

DOGE Initiative Aims for Federal Overhaul by 2026

Trump added that the research and recommendations regarding DOGE are well-placed to inform his administration’s approach to the management of federal assets, even to structural adjustments across the different federal departments. The mandate for the department will be to find waste and regulatory overreach-up to this time, though, Trump has not given any details on specific cuts or reductions to be implemented.

Preliminary work by the agency is expected to be completed by July 4, 2026, although funding and establishment of the department by Congress is still pending.

Through his major defense contracting role with SpaceX, Musk has long been a close ally and friend to Trump. Musk donated millions of dollars to fund Trump’s 2024 campaign. He has been at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago compound in Florida since Election Night as the two work out the scope and mission of the agency.